The evolution of person-centred care to personalised care, personal budgets and direct payments in england: some implications for older users of social care services

The Westminster Government in the UK has implemented a series of significant changes to the way social care is organised and provided in England, including the use of personal budgets and direct payments. Advocates of this approach claim it will deliver more personalised care to budget holders. This paper examines key English policies underpinning these changes, reviewing social policy analysis and research evidence of their impact to consider implications for older social care users. It suggests that personal budgets and direct payments have partly been a response to demands for greater control over care from younger adults with disabilities and that policies and guidance often reflect the interests of this constituency rather than older people. Current research evidence tends to suggest that older people achieve less satisfactory outcomes from personal budgets than younger people. The paper argues for the re-discovery of person-centred care, rather than personalisation, as a way of addressing this important policy issue.